Moon So Far Away
by Laume
Summary: post HBP. Written for the Third Floor Romance contest. Luna finds a message from Dumbledore. Deatheaters chase her, but why does one of them seem less devoted to killing her than he should be?
1. Chapter 1

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the House, not a creature was stirring…

Wait.

Something stirred.

In the Ravenclaw Tower, a small form quietly made it's way out. Soft feet padded through the empty halls, down the Tower, passing the third floor and climbing back up again towards another tower.

It came to a halt in front of a Gargoyle.

"Hello Mr Gargoyle," the figure spoke in a soft, dreamy voice, "would you kindly step aside? Someone called me."

The Gargoyle stepped aside, showing a staircase.

"Thank you," Luna said as she ascended.

The office was dark – the only glimmer came from the whirling and spinning silver instruments. The new Headmistress had not taken residency in the rooms, preferring to keep her own office instead.

Luna softly approached the painting of a sleeping Dumbledore.

"You called me."

The painting slowly opened it's eyes. "You heard me."

"Of course," the girl smiled, "what can I do for you?"

"I woke up yesterday," Dumbledore's painting explained, "and things are a bit hazy. Could you bring me up to date, Miss Lovegood?"

"Certainly, Headmaster."

"First things first – Harry. Where is he?"

"Horcrux hunting," Luna replied, "Ron and Hermione are with him. Professor Snape is trying to find the location of the other Horcruxes."

"Ah, good. They found the Pensieve, then?"

"It only took Harry two months and twenty demolished pillows to come to terms with it," Luna sat crosslegged on the floor, "I believe you hurt them both greatly, Professor."

"I know I did," the painting smiled sadly, "yet there was no other way. And there is something that worries me – I remember vaguely being worried. I…"

"Something you didn't intent for Harry to find," Luna said.

"Yes," the Headmaster nodded.

"Of course, you crackpot old fool," Phineas Nigellus called from his frame, "you hid the clues behind what would be your painting."

Luna stood up, moved the painting a bit to the side and found an envelope. She opened it calmly and read.

Macaroni 

The Ravenclaw nodded.

"Well, girl? What does it say?" Nigellus snapped impatiently.

Luna held the bit of paper up for him to see. The former Headmaster raised his eyebrows. He huffed.

"Typically you, Dumbledore. One nonsensical word."

The portrait of Everard, on the other side of the wall, shook it's head. "Typically YOU, Phineas. If you weren't such an incorrigible blood purist you would've known that macaroni is a dish. A Muggle dish from Italy."

"Oh, and that helps us how exactly?" Nigellus sneered.

Luna ignored the fighting Headmasters. She approached one of the shelves.

"Hello, Hat."

"Hello, Miss Lovegood."

"Macaroni?"

"My idea," the Hat said proudly, "I Sorted this American student once – horrible accent. But I found a very interesting song in his head. Took me forever to get it out of my mind."

The Hat opened it's mouth – or the fold in the fabric that served as a mouth.

"_Yankee Doodle went to town_

_Riding on a pony_

_He put a feather in his Hat_

_And called it Macaroni."_

Luna nodded. "Which one?"

"SLYTHERIN" the Hat bellowed, as if Sorting a student.

"Thank you, Hat. And thank you, Headmaster."

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"Daddy?"

"Yes, Lunalight?"

"Death Eaters won't be happy with that article, you know."

"I'm counting on it, sweetheart. Why?"

"Have you upgraded the wards yet?"

"Ah – no. I've been working on this story about Scrimgeour's connections to the Hawaiian Vampire Community."

"Don't forget to do it, Daddy."

"I won't, Lunalight."

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"Come on, boys! Our first assignment. If this goes well, our Lord will reward us."

Three darkrobed figures approached the silent house.

"Vince, you're with me. We'll Lovegood and hang his body out of the window. That should make for a nice wake-up call for the Alley tomorrow. Greg, you take the girl. Do what you like, but be quick about it."

"Yes, Theo," the two nodded.

Greg Goyle made his way as quietly as he could towards the rooms. Opening the first door, he found a bathroom. The second door was a hall cupboard. Finally, he found the right one.

Moonlight bathed the room in a soft glow through opened curtains. The large Slytherin held his breath – on the bed lay the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Hair sprawled over the pillow, one hand behind her head, Luna Lovegood looked like an angel.

How come he had never seen that before?

Aiming his wand at her, he hesitated. Could he do this? His gaze slowly went to his left forearm where the Dark Mark was branded into his skin. The Mark meant he had to. But how could he destroy something so lovely?

"Greg? Are you done?"

"Y-yes," he replied shakily, "She's – She's not here. Is he dead?"

"Yes, he is. Come help us hang out his body, you're stronger than I am."

Goyle quickly stowed his wand away and closed the door securely, leaving a stunned Luna in her bed.

"Daddy," she whispered, her eyes full of tears, knowing there was nothing that she could do now to save him. He was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Luna heard the Death Eater juniors retreat and leave the House, casting the Dark Mark over it. As soon as she heard the pops of Apparating, she got up determinedly, wiping her face on her sheets. With a Finite, she dispelled the Dark Mark. Trying not to look at her fathers body, she went back inside and Floo'ed the Weasley Twins.

"Luna?" Within seconds they were at her side.

"They killed Dad," she informed them, "I dispelled the Mark but we must get his body away and in bed before anyone notices. It must look like death from natural causes. Else Voldemort will cause panic with this murder. I won't give him the satisfaction."

Gone was the airy, spaced-out girl. The Twins nodded and set to work. Luna got out her books.

"It's a good thing the Killing Curse leaves no trace," she said, as the boys levitated her fathers body back into his bed, "did they – did they hurt him?"

"No," George said, inspecting the body, "apart from rope-burns. A cream should still help – he's not…not…"

"Cold yet?" Luna finished, "good. Would you do that, please? When everything is ready you must leave. Dad will have died of heart failure during the night. I'll make my own bed and come with you. I wasn't here."

"Luna…" Fred looked at her, "how come you are alive?"

She smiled a grim smile. "One of them apparently had a trace of humanity left."

"Then why do you need to say you weren't home? Oh…"

"Yes," Luna confirmed, "he told his colleagues I wasn't here. If I say I was – well. We'll let Snape know. It would be a waste of a potential information source."

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The day after the funeral Luna left for Hogwarts.

"Luna!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed to meet her.

"Hello," Luna replied, "how are you doing? Any luck?"

"We're close," Harry replied, "We heard about your father, Luna…"

Hermione's eyes were full of tears. "Oh Luna, I'm so sorry," she threw her arms around the other girl, "we were so worried about you."

"I'm alright," Luna assured her, "I miss Daddy a lot, but it will get better eventually. Did you know it was Theo Nott who led the Death Eaters that attacked him?"

The three looked confused. "But – the papers…."

"We made it look like a natural death so Voldemort couldn't take credit," Luna said matter-of-factly, as if she did such things daily, "Death Eaters killed him."

"Oh Luna…" Hermione hugged her again. "So, what are you doing here, during the holidays?"

"Research," Luna replied, "I asked Professor McGonagall if, considering the circumstances, I could come to school early and she agreed.

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She was being watched.

Having ventured a bit into the Forbidden Forest, Luna seemed distracted, almost careless. Until the black figure was near her. Then she whipped around, her wand out, a curse on her lips.

"Please – no," she recognized the voice immediately.

"Gregory?"

"Please, Lun – Lovegood…I don't mean to hurt you."

She cocked her head to one side. "My father…"

"I'm sorry," he pleaded, "I'm sorry. I – I saw you and you were beautiful. I didn't see why you had to die. I thought the Dark Lord would kill me if he found out, but you said you weren't there. You lied for me."

"Because you spared me," the witch replied, sitting down.

The young Death Eater sat down besides her, pulling off his mask.

"I'm not smart," he confessed, "Theo says it's all necessary, for the greater good. I'm not sure. I believed he was right, he always is. Theo is clever. Not like me."

"You don't have to be like anyone else, Gregory," to Goyle, Luna's voice sounded like music.

"Killing is wrong," he suddenly said.

"Murdering is wrong," Luna confirmed.

"What should I do, Luna?" the young man asked, his eyes pleading with her.

Luna smiled. "I know you are guarding a small estate," she said, "I need access to it. You can only get out if Volde…" seeing him starting to flinch, she remedied "the Dark Lord is gone. You don't have to do anything, Gregory. Only look the other way."

"I'm on guard duty there every other night," Goyle offered.

"Does anyone ever go inside?" Luna asked.

"Never. Only the Dark Lord is allowed."

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Luna stared at the house – nothing like the grand castle she had imagined as Slytherin's ancestral home. She checked to see if she was invisible. The spell still worked. Her eyes on the dark figure at the door, she stepped straight through the wards.

Goyle heard something. The signal! Luna!

He coughed, and moved a little away from the door, apparently to check out some suspicious movement in the grass. It turned out to be a frog.

Luna slipped past, and quickly entered. Not even locked. Not that it would have mattered if it had been. The twins had taught her well.

Making her way slowly through the corridors, Luna kpt her eye out for anything out of the ordinary. But nothing. No secret passageways behind paintings. Nothing. The Library was full of books, but the rest of the things there were obviously recent and must've been brought there by Voldemort, if Gregory's word was anything to go by.

She was about to give up, when her eye fell on a pillow that seemed out of place.

"Where do you hide a leaf? In a forest," she muttered, opening the pillow and spilling feathers all over the place.

"And where do you hide a feather? In a pillow." She pulled out a long silver feather.

Immediately her senses were assaulted with the strength of the thing. Power. Potential. Promises. Pure, raw ambition. It didn't affect her, but she knew that without the protections her mind provided, she would be tempted to keep it. This thing was so Slytherin that she knew Harry could not have destroyed it. The lure of it was too strong. It drew on everything around it and fed extra power to the holder. No wonder Voldemort wanted it to remain a secret even from his followers.

Luna tucked the feather away safely and left the house again. Unseen, invisible, she quickly pecked the waiting Goyle on his cheek.

"Thank you, Gregory," she whispered. . Once outside the wards, she Apparated. There was destruction to be brought.

Luna sat down in a remote place. She felt Slytherins feather. It toyed with her mind. She toiled with it. It desperately tried to get her under control – but her elusive mind would not let it get a good grasp.

She picked it up and held it between her palms. "You will be destroyed," she declared, before channelling all her considerable power into a massive overload.

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She woke up when the sun was high in the sky. The feather lay withered by her side, harmless.

"Good."

She shook her head. In the distance she could see smoke. She concentrated, summoned up all her strength and Apparated to the edge of the Hogwarts Wards – and into utter chaos.

The wards had fallen. They had finished the final battle without her!

Bodies were scattered over the grounds, some in dark robes and masks, some in Auror uniform, some in schoolrobes. She came across the remains of Bellatrix and remembered how the witch had smiled when she killed Sirius. In the distance, she saw Harry raise Gryffindor's sword over Voldemort's broken body. Remnants of his army fled, and so began the legend of the Man Who Conquered.

A soft gasp caught her attention.

"Lu-na…"

A broken white mask, tainted with blood. She removed it from the face.

"Gregory."

"Did it – work – Luna? What you wanted to do?"

"Yes, Gregory."

"I liked you, Luna. A lot."

She took his hand in hers and squeezed. "I liked you too, Gregory."

"Really?" despite the pain, a smile crossed his face and for a moment, he seemed an innocent child again.

Leaning forward, she gently kissed his broken lips.

"Love – Luna…Luna…." He sighed, and didn't take another breath.

"Goodbye, Gregory."

The soft whisper was lost in the cheering that broke the eery silence of the battlefield.

The end.

A/N: I'm sorry. I'm mostly asleep right now. I'll probably be very unhappy with this in the morning, but it feels right now.


End file.
